“Makes Me Wanna Holla!” Is about using your most powerful weapon, your voice, to take a stand for whatever you believe in and become proactive for change.

 

If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything. If we stand together, our collective voices will become a powerful force in affecting the world in which we live.

 

“Makes Me Wanna Holla” is a celebration of human existence and the experiences we all see and feel during our journey through life.  It provides a deeper look into the sounds, colors, songs and surroundings we may take for granted during our day to day life.  Behind each of these there could be a memory we have since let fade away, or a feeling we haven’t felt in a long time, but need to embrace.

This videoconference will guide the audience through a sound symphony of emotions, ranging from sadness and frustration to joy and pride.  Performers will take onlookers through life experiences of overcoming oppression, finding confidence and becoming empowered, and witnessing the power of true love.  Each note of this composition will culminate in the celebration of self-realization. 

“Makes Me Wanna Holla” is an eclectic, high energy collaborative performance between many talented individuals.  Energetic, eclectic, whimsical and inspirational are all ways to describe this Rhythm and Roots videoconference. 

 

The music incorporated in the show is an eclectic mix of hip-hop, jazz, contemporary and rock and features many genres of music. The pieces are traditionally unique, and incorporates both original script and dance.

 

Yet, what it perhaps most unique about this performance company is the way in which they begin to choreograph and rehearse. Young's students are given a theme and a vision, and choreography begins there, collectively. In addition, Young also bases the show around the performers' talents.

 

All of us have a unique, particular and urgent theme we must say or do with our lives. It’s a message that must be spoken, a crusade that must be undertaken, a passion that must be explored, or a help that must be rendered in the world around us.  

 

“Makes Me Wanna Holla” challenges you to “find your voice” in the midst of many voices.

 

Rhythm & Roots is dedicated to exploring the use of the performing arts as an expression of social complexities and as a catalyst for social change. The mission of R & R is to plant seeds of change through dance and drama. The group performs their own original choreography and drama pieces. R&R is an avenue for Vanderbilt students to use their theatrical and musical gifts.

R & R inspires, uplifts and provides hope to youth by bringing people together through a common bond (the arts). The dance, music and energy of the students and the audience, draw us closer to a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us.  Rhythm and Roots is the 12-year-old brainchild of Cindy Young, a New Jersey native who serves as both the founding and artistic director.

 

The progressive Vanderbilt dance company Rhythm and Roots is all about “pushing the boundaries” whether it be race, skill or simply breaking down stereotypes that are all too easy to accept. The energy is unmistakable. You can see and feel the group’s collective talent literally stomping out any perceived boundaries.

 

NATIONAL STANDARDS that this lesson is aligned to:
G R A D E S   6 - 1 2

 

Identifying and Demonstrating Movement Elements and Skills in Performing Dance Understanding Choreographic Principles, Processes, and Structures Understanding Dance as a Way to Create and Communicate Meaning Applying and Demonstrating Critical and Creative Thinking Skills in Dance Demonstrating and Understanding Dance in Various Cultures and Historical Periods Making Connections Between Dance and Healthful Living Making Connections Between Dance and Other Disciplines   NA-D.6-12.1 IDENTIFYING AND DEMONSTRATING MOVEMENT ELEMENTS AND SKILLS IN PERFORMING DANCE Achievement Standard, Proficient: Students demonstrate appropriate skeletal alignment, body-part articulation, strength, flexibility, agility, and coordination in locomotor and nonlocomotor/axial movements Students identify and demonstrate longer and more complex steps and patterns from two different dance styles/traditions Students demonstrate rhythmic acuity Students create and perform combinations and variations in a broad dynamic range Students demonstrate projection while performing dance skills Students demonstrate the ability to remember extended movement sequences Achievement Standard, Advanced: Students demonstrate a high level of consistency and reliability in performing technical skills Students perform technical skills with artistic expression, demonstrating clarity, musicality, and stylistic nuance Students refine technique through self-evaluation and correction   NA-D.6-12.2 UNDERSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHIC PRINCIPLES, PROCESSES, AND STRUCTURES Achievement Standard, Proficient: Students use improvisation to generate movement for choreography Students demonstrate understanding of structures or forms (such as palindrome, theme and variation, rondo, round, contemporary forms selected by the student) through brief dance studies Students choreograph a duet demonstrating an understanding of choreographic principles, processes, and structures Achievement Standard, Advanced: Students demonstrate further development and refinement of the proficient skills to create a small group dance with coherence and aesthetic unity Students accurately describe how a choreographer manipulated and developed the basic movement content in a dance NA-D.6-12.3 UNDERSTANDING DANCE AS A WAY TO CREATE AND COMMUNICATE MEANING Achievement Standard, Proficient: Students formulate and answer questions about how movement choices communicate abstract ideas in dance Students demonstrate understanding of how personal experience influences the interpretation of a dance Students create a dance that effectively communicates a contemporary social theme Achievement Standard, Advanced: Students examine ways that a dance creates and conveys meaning by considering the dance from a variety of perspectives Students compare and contrast how meaning is communicated in two of their own choreographic works NA-D.6-12.4 APPLYING AND DEMONSTRATING CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING SKILLS IN DANCE Achievement Standard, Proficient: Students create a dance and revise it over time, articulating the reasons for their artistic decisions and what was lost and gained by those decisions Students establish a set of aesthetic criteria and apply it in evaluating their own work and that of others Students formulate and answer their own aesthetic questions (such as, What is it that makes a particular dance that dance? How much can one change that dance before it becomes a different dance?) Achievement Standard, Advanced: Students discuss how skills developed in dance are applicable to a variety of careers Students analyze the style of a choreographer or cultural form; then create a dance in that style (choreographers that could be analyzed include George Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, Laura Dean; cultural forms include bharata natyam, classical ballet) Students analyze issues of ethnicity, gender, social/economic class, age and/or physical condition in relation to dance NA-D.6-12.5 DEMONSTRATING AND UNDERSTANDING DANCE IN VARIOUS CULTURES AND HISTORICAL PERIODS Achievement Standard, Proficient: Students perform and describe similarities and differences between two contemporary theatrical forms of dance Students perform or discuss the traditions and technique of a classical dance form (e.g., Balinese, ballet) Students create and answer twenty-five questions about dance and dancers prior to the twentieth century Students analyze how dance and dancers are portrayed in contemporary media Achievement Standard, Advanced: Students create a time line illustrating important dance events in the twentieth century, placing them in their social/historical/cultural/political contexts Students compare and contrast the role and significance of dance in two different social/historical/ cultural/political contexts NA-D.6-12.6 MAKING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DANCE AND HEALTHFUL LIVING Achievement Standard, Proficient: Students reflect upon their own progress and personal growth during their study of dance Students effectively communicate how lifestyle choices affect the dancer Students analyze historical and cultural images of the body in dance and compare these to images of the body in contemporary media Achievement Standard, Advanced: Students discuss challenges facing professional performers in maintaining healthy lifestyles NA-D.6-12.7 MAKING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN DANCE AND OTHER DISCIPLINES Achievement Standard, Proficient: Students create an interdisciplinary project based on a theme identified by the student, including dance and two other disciplines Students clearly identify commonalties and differences between dance and other disciplines with regard to fundamental concepts such as materials, elements, and ways of communicating meaning Students demonstrate/discuss how technology can be used to reinforce, enhance, or alter the dance idea in an interdisciplinary project Achievement Standard, Advanced: Students compare one choreographic work to one other artwork from the same culture and time period in terms of how those works reflect the artistic/cultural/historical context Students create an interdisciplinary project using media technologies (such as video, computer) that presents dance in a new or enhanced form (such as video dance, video/computer-aided live performance, or animation)